Monday, June 16, 2008

A Moment of Modernity


I was in the restroom at work today. While in the stall, I began to hear, to my left, the distinct tapping of someone typing an e-mail on a smartphone. Immediately thereafter, I began to hear, to my right, the sound of someone tapping away on another smartphone. About ten seconds later, from the far left, I heard yet another person typing. There I was, sitting in complete silence, and all I could hear is typing.

1 comment:

Mad.J.D. said...

I'm sort of depressed by this story. Is nothing sacred?

More importantly, your sentence "There I was, sitting in complete silence, and all I could hear is typing." is reminiscent of this old TV commercial for that door-lock thingy that is like a bar along the bottom of your front door - basically there is a hole in your floor where you put this anchor piece and then there's a perpendicular piece at the top of it that goes across the door so it can't be opened even if the regular lock is busted. Anyway, the commercial, which was intended to scare TV viewers into buying one, began with the ominous narration: "You're at home... alone... with your family..."

Well, actually, if you're with your family, you're not home alone. The two states of being are mutually exclusive. Similarly, if you're sitting there hearing typing, you're not sitting in complete silence. Unless you meant that you personally were not making any noise (which is a highly dubious claim given your activity at the time).